The Science Show - Full Program Podcast

There was a famous debate. And truly weird ideas about how the universe works at a subatomic level. Shelby Traynor traces the history of quantum mechanics.

If you've given birth to three daughters, what are the odds that your next child will also be a girl? One in two, right? Well … maybe not. The odds of having a fourth girl could be a fair bit higher than 50 per cent, according to a new study into families with single-sex sets of siblings.

Discover the story of a pair of brothers who invented an early electric scooter, humidicrib, fax machine, Olympic scoreboard — and much more! — in their South Australian workshop from the 1930s to the 60s. We also learn about a trial that's generated energy from the waves, and unearth two rare photographs of a long-lost bandicoot species.

A huge net, weighed down by heavy chains, swiftly sweeps across the ocean floor, scooping up everything in its path.  This type of fishing, called bottom trawling, was illuminated in a new documentary, Ocean with David Attenborough.  Bottom trawling is known for indiscriminately gathering all sorts of marine species, as well as damaging the sea floor.  But with the practice producing around a quar...

In an electrifying episode of the Science Show, find out how getting struck by a bolt from the heavens can help at least one species of tall tree not only survive, but thrive.  Then step back in time to solve a tool-making mystery in Samoa and discover hidden treasures in centuries-old books — including a bubonic plague flea.

In the three years since the James Webb Space Telescope sent back its first images, it's pulled back the veil on a whole bunch of mind-blowing cosmic phenomena. So how has this $13 billion bit of kit shaped what we know about the Universe — and what is yet to come?

We hear from scientists who push the boundaries of creation, whether that's building wild and wacky snack flavours (successfully) or cloning extinct tropical frogs (unsuccessfully … so far).  And since President Donald Trump retook office, the state of health and science research in the US has been precarious for many who work in those areas.  But there is a silver lining. Other countries such as...

We often hear about places where the air quality is bad, even dangerous, but what about where the air is the cleanest on Earth? That air can be found blowing onto the north-west tip of Tasmania at Kennaook/Cape Grim, where an air pollution station has quietly been keeping track of how humans have changed the makeup of our atmosphere for 50 years. So what does the world's cleanest air tell us?

Karl Popper (1902-1994) is regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of science of the twentieth century. Alan Saunders presented this portrait of Karl Popper for The Science Show in January 2001.

A weekly injection that stops that hankering for hot chips and donuts? Many people on Ozempic and similar medications report this phenomenon, saying they no longer have incessant thoughts about sweets and fried food. So how do these drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, work in the brain to dial down "food noise" and help people lose weight?

The overland telegraph connecting Australia to the world was completed just over 150 years ago. It was built due to the dedication of a public servant, Charles Todd.

It's the size of a sesame seed, but it could cause unfathomable destruction to Australia's forests and urban canopy. A beetle called the polyphagous shot-hole borer (Euwallacea fornicatus) is silently spreading through Perth and its surrounds, forcing councils to chop and chip hundreds of trees — even century-old Moreton Bay figs. So how does the tiny pest cause such massive problems?

Roger Short (1930-2021) discusses influences in his early life, and some of his research achievements including melatonin as a controller of circadian rhythms, and aspects of reproductive biology across the animal world.

First they learnt how to flip open wheelie bin lids. Now they're using water fountains. Masters of the urban landscape, sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) are more than capable of some quirky (and sometimes messy) antics. So what do these entertaining exploits tell us about cockie innovation — or even cockie culture?

Get ready for gravitons, dark photons and transition states. Kathryn Zurek takes us on a tour of the bewildering world of quantum physics.

A couple of months ago, a killer started mobilising off the South Australian shore — one that would wipe out marine life, make surfers feel sick, and smother picturesque beaches in thick foam. The culprit? A bloom of tiny organisms called microalgae. We can't see them with the naked eye, but in big enough numbers, they can devastate ecosystems. So what made the South Australian algal bloom so leth...

People have been in the Australian wilderness for generations. But can people be considered part of the natural landscape or will they always have an impact?

If you were impressed by generative AI such as ChatGPT, then artificial general intelligence or AGI promises to really knock your socks off. Over the past couple of decades, tech companies have been racing to build AGI systems that can match or surpass human capabilities across a whole bunch of tasks. So will AGI save the world — or will it spell the beginning of the end for humanity?

She could only read and write from age 10. She reared children and had a first unsupportive husband. But Mary Somerville was able to correct the work of Isaac Newton, help discover Neptune, and write a science book which became a university text.

The next time you pick up a bag of spuds from the supermarket or fill up the car with petrol, you can thank the Treaty of the Metre for the metric system that underpins daily life. The treaty was signed exactly 150 years ago, when delegates from 17 countries gathered on a Parisian spring day to establish a new and standardised way of measuring the world around us. But the metre's inception predate...

Amateur fossil hunters make a major discovery. And Marilyn Renfree describes the sophisticated reproduction of marsupials.

Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) were named by whalers because their high oil content made them the "right" ones to kill. In the decades since whaling was banned, southern right numbers increased — but a new study shows that population growth stalled, and might've dropped a bit, despite current numbers still far below what they were in pre-whaling times. So what's going on with the sout...

David Walker at UCLA says he can halt aging in fruit flies. Can the same concepts be applied to humans? And two tertiary students and an artist describe combining science and artistic pursuits.

Cobras, taipans, black mambas — Tim Friede's been intentionally bitten more than 200 times by some of the most venomous snakes on Earth. And he survived, mostly because years of self-injecting venom let him develop immunity to them. (Please do not try this yourself!) Now his blood's been used to make a broad-spectrum antivenom that researchers say may protect against nearly 20 deadly snakes. But t...

Mansi Kasliwal describes how she detects supernovae – the massive stellar explosions where elements are formed. We learn how dung beetles saved the Australian environment from the big problem, and David Attenborough shares his love for Birds-of-paradise.